


RFXZ

by TheDarkRainbow



Category: RWBY, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, Gen, JFC so many mega man incarnations at Beacon, M/M, Mega party it up in here, Prosthetic Limbs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-06 08:23:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1104609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkRainbow/pseuds/TheDarkRainbow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the new school year begins Rock finds himself advanced two years without warning, skipping the end of his time at Signal and beginning his time at Beacon. Even combat school can be difficult when you're two years younger than everyone else, but Rock is determined to make the best of it, and to prove to his brother X that he can handle himself.</p>
<p>X is worried his younger brother is in over his head and vows to protect him, but awakening feelings for a certain blue eyed swordsman threaten to distract him.</p>
<p>Running from his past, Zero is certain he is safe at Beacon, but when he runs into a familiar face he faces the possibility of losing everything he's worked for.</p>
<p>Forte has one mission. Prove, once and for all, that he's a better huntsman than Rock. And definitely not make out with him. Nope. Not at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Little bro? What are you doing here?” X asked, unable to believe his eyes. Before him, his little brother, Rock “Blue Bomber” Light stood on the deck of the airship en route to Beacon academy. X knew full well that Rock, despite his older brother’s wishes, was well on his way to becoming a Huntsman as well, but Rock was supposed to be studying at Signal, not Beacon.

Rock looked uncomfortable for a moment. “I, uh, got moved up a few years. There was a, um, incident, and Professor Ozpin happened to see me in action. So uh, here I am,” Rock said, laughing nervously.

X was silent for a moment. “I don’t want you to get hurt,” he said at last.

“I know.”

“You were lucky the first time.”

“I know.”

“I wish you hadn’t come.”

“I know.”

X pulled his brother into a hug. “So I’m gonna do my best to protect you.”

Rock hugged him back. “Okay.”

Across the room, a blonde squealed, pulling an unfortunate raven into a life threatening embrace.

X laughed, separating from his brother. “Think we should do something about that?”

Rock nodded. “I guess I do owe her somewhat,” he said. “She did kinda bail me out a couple times in that fight.”

“I expect details from you about this tonight,” X said, walking over to where the girls stood. Right as he was about to say something, the blonde released the raven from her death grip.

“Really, sis, it was nothing,” the raven was saying as X approached.

“What was nothing?” X asked.

“It wasn’t nothing, it was incredible! Ruby skipped two whole years at Signal to come to Beacon!” the blonde exclaimed.

“So then you’re about Rock’s age, then?” X asked. “I’m X, by the way. Rock’s…” X’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I swear he was right behind me a second ago…”

“Rock?”

“My little brother. I didn’t know until today, but apparently he managed to skip two full years at Signal after running into the Headmaster here.”

“Oh, I think I’ve met him! Blue eyes, arm cannon, bit too trusting for his own good?”

X nodded. “That’s him. How’d you guess?”

“He saved my life, no big deal. Anyways, yeah, I mean, I guess I’m not really that surprised. I didn’t really get to talk to him. What’s with the arm cannon, anyways? Is he a robot?” Ruby asked.

X shook his head. “No, actually. Our father is Thomas Light, the world leader in robotics. The arm’s an artificial replacement,” he explained.

The blonde frowned. “How’d he lose his arm then?” she asked.

X struggled to explain. “It’s… really not my place to say. Ask him and let him tell you if he wants. What’s your name, anyways?”

Blonde grinned. “My name is Yang, and this is my sister Ruby!” she exclaimed, grabbing Ruby by the waist and pulling her close.

On the holographic television, the newscast flicked off, replaced by a hologram of a middle aged blonde woman. “Hello, and welcome to Beacon,” she began.

“Who’s that?” asked Yang.

“My name is Glynda Goodwitch,” she continued, earning an “oh” from Yang. “You are among the privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to achieve this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of piece, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now, it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world.” She said, providing a few instructions on what to do when they disembarked before fading out, revealing the view of Beacon from the air behind her.

“Woah,” Ruby exclaimed, running to the window. “You can see Signal from here!”

All around them, other students were beginning to crowd the windows, thrilled by the new view offered.

“I guess home isn’t too far after all,” Yang said, wrapping an arm around Ruby. “Beacon’s our new home now.”

Behind them, a blonde male ran by, fighting down vomit.

“I guess the view isn’t for everyone,” X commented.

“Well, it was a nice moment while it lasted,” Ruby said.

Not long after, they disembarked, walking right past the blonde from earlier emptying his lunch into the trash can.

“You guys go ahead,” X said. “I need to stay behind and wait for Rock.”

Ruby tossed him a two finger salute as the two girls walked off. X stood by the exit to the ship, watching the students disembark and waiting for his brother when he saw someone else who intrigued him.

The boy wore red armor with a matching helmet, sword strapped to his back and long gold hair flowing down his back. His eyes were focused ahead, and he moved through the crowd with ease, yet didn’t appear to be in any hurry. Still, there was something about him that just drew X to him, something he couldn’t place his finger on.

He was distracted at that moment by the appearance of Rock, who had turned out to be one of the stragglers.

“Hey, where’d you go?” X inquired.

“Avoiding someone,” Rock said, and X nodded. Rock had made his fair share of enemies at Signal for being so amazing, and some of them had been in X’s class.

“Who was it this time?”

“You wouldn’t know him,” was all Rock said in response. X knew that just meant Rock didn’t want to talk about it, so as a good brother he dropped the subject.

“Come on, then, or we’re gonna be late.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the hall was crowded already, even though only two of the airships had docked. X scanned the crowd quickly, looking for anyone familiar, when he heard a familiar voice shouting at him.

“X! Over here!”

“Saved us a spot, did you?” X asked, laughing as he walked over, holding Rock’s wrist so he wouldn’t get away again. “It’s good to see you again, Leviathan.”

The other giggled. “Oh, X, it’s been a while! Harpuia and the others should be here any minute now, I don’t know where they are…” she trailed off, frowning with uncertainty.

Just then, three more familiar faces joined them. “How’s it hanging, X?” Fefnir greeted. “Hmm? Who’s the lookalike?”

“Hey Fefnir. Harpuia, Phantom,” he nodded at each of them in turn. “This is my little brother, Rock. He skipped a couple years, apparently. So how are you guys holding up?”

Fefnir laughed. “We’ve been doing quite well, actually! The four of us ran into that Sigma guy again, but he wimped out on us again,” he boasted. Phantom rolled his eyes.

“Honestly, Sigma just about kicked his ass. If it wasn’t for Harpuia’s quick thinking, he’d be toast. Again,” he deadpanned.

A burst of feedback directed their attention towards the stage. Professor Ozpin stood, adjusting his glasses with one finger before leaning towards the microphone slightly.

“I’ll… keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you finish, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose. Direction.”

“Oh, he is so going to pay for that one,” Fefnir grumbled.

“You assume knowledge will free you of this. But your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.” He stepped away from the mic, as Professor Goodwitch stepped up to provide them with information about where to go and what to do for the night.

“What… exactly was the point of that?” Rock asked on their way to the dorm for the night.

“Well, we wouldn’t know where to be going without that,” Phantom said in reply.

Leviathan smacked the back of his head. “He doesn’t mean that, he means Ozpin’s speech. I have to agree. He didn’t really seem all there.”

“Certainly the Headmaster of such a prestigious school would’ve had a more inspiring speech,” Harpuia remarked.

“Perhaps he was having an off day?” X offered.

“Perhaps.”  
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

X sat alone later that night, clad in a pair of sweatpants as he applied the necessary oil to his arm to keep it functional. Like Rock, he had lost his arm in the accident that had taken their mother’s life, and had to have an artificial limb attached.

“I don’t think that’s quite what ‘playing with yourself’ is supposed to mean,” remarked an unknown voice as its owner, the blonde stranger from earlier, sat down across from him. “What are you doing, anyways?”

“If I don’t do this tonight, it’ll slow me down getting ready for tomorrow,” X said in reply.

“Fair enough, whatever it is,” said the blonde. “I’m Zero.”

“X.”

“Is that seriously your name?”

“Well, it’s short for Xavier. I prefer to just go by X.”

Zero shrugged. “Whatever. Seriously though, what are you doing?”

“I’m oiling my prosthetic arm, so that it’s functioning properly for initiation tomorrow.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Not really. I mean, they aren’t gonna throw anything at us that we can’t handle. Mostly I’m just curious about the whole team business.”

“I don’t particularly care about teams. I tend to work alone anyways, so I don’t see a reason to go scrambling for a team.”

“Working alone tends to be more dangerous, you know. No one to watch your back.”

“Whatever. I don’t leave anything standing long enough to hit me in the back anyways.”

“Boasting,” X said, exchanging his oil for a screwdriver, “Is very unbecoming of a huntsman.”

Zero was about to reply when he got hit in the face by a pillow. Rock dove down next to them, panting slightly. 

“Your friends are crazy!” he exclaimed towards X. X picked up the pillow and threw it back towards the culprit, who had turned out to be none other than Leviathan. She caught it easily enough, and blew a kiss in his direction. X shook his head and returned to the task at hand.

“Oh, you know Leviathan?” Zero asked. X nodded.

“We were in most of the same classes last year. How do you know her?”

“She used to have a thing for me. So did Harpuia, apparently.”

"Oh yeah, that's right. I remember Harpuia and Leviathan arguing over some boy. I'm still not sure whether Harpuia swinging that way or that they managed to have a brief falling out over that was more surprising. Oh yeah, before I forget, Rock, how exactly did you get into Beacon?"

Rock looked uncomfortable for a moment before beginning. "Well, there's really not much to say. I was on my way home from the movies with Roll when I saw that Torchwick guy from the news about to shoot the girl from the ship - the one with black hair - so I jumped in to help. Torchwick was surprisingly strong - he almost beat us both, and would've too if Professor Goodwitch hadn't shown up. He got away though, and Professor Goodwitch almost had us arrested, but Professor Ozpin wanted to talk to me. The girl, too, it looks like."

"You must either be really brave or really stupid to fight a criminal that the police have been after for as long as they have," Zero commented.

"I'm gonna go with stupid. You could've been killed!" X said.

"That girl could've been killed if I hadn't stepped in!"

"That girl is good enough to make it into Beacon, I'm sure she would've been alright!"

"How was he supposed to know that?" Zero cut in calmly, diffusing the situation. 

A tense moment of silence followed before Rock announced that he was going to bed. As he slunk off, X finished fiddling with his arm, replacing his tools and announcing his own plan to sleep. Zero did nothing except lay down next to X.

"Aren't you going to return to your own sleeping bag?" X asked.

"Nah, don't need it. Besides, you're kinda interesting," the blonde replied as X drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> RWBY episodes are short and hard to get material from


	2. The Emerald Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As initiation begins, Rock grows anxious, Zero panics, and Harpuia and co. bite off more than they can chew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter I decided to do something a little crazy and went ahead and started throwing in the ZX crew. More than anything I did so because RWBY is so damn short and I haven't had much of a chance to stray from canon yet, so I needed some way to keep the chapters at a decent length. That and I love the guys from the ZX series.

Rock awoke early the next day. He hadn’t slept well, distracted by both nerve wracking anxiety and giddy eagerness. He’d earned his place here, he knew, but that didn’t mean everyone else did.

Of course, he could’ve been worse off. So far it seemed most of the freshmen class had seen some of the helpless antics that that one kid had been up to. He’d made quite the fool out of himself, and Rock wasn’t particularly eager to get put on the same team as him. Still, Rock knew full well there were worse people he could get stuck on a team with. He shuddered, stopping that train of thought before it could go anywhere.

Ah well. He may as well perform some touch ups on Rockbuster while everyone else slept. X had been right – it would be stupid to go into initiation without taking the proper precautions. He just hoped X didn’t mind him borrowing his tools – he’d left his own in his locker yesterday, and he wouldn’t get to get at them until it was time for initiation.

As he worked he fell into a comfortable rhythm, losing himself in his work. This was what he enjoyed – creating, working, fixing. He’d designed his newest model of prosthetic arm himself, giving it the ability to convert into a gun. He’d built it himself, dubbing the arm/weapon Rockbuster. It was a decently effective weapon, modeled after X’s Solar Plasma, though not nearly as powerful as his brother’s. This was because Rockbuster had another function. Where Solar Plasma could fire rapidly and change into a metal blade for close quarters combat, Rockbuster charged its shots. It fired the same energy that Solar Plasma did, but could charge, and then overcharge, for even more damage. On top of that, Rock had added additional firing modes that Solar Plasma didn’t have. Programming in the weapons himself, Rock had added seven other functions – Rolling Cutter, Thunder Beam, Fire Storm, Super Arm, Hyper Bomb, Ice Slasher, and Magnet Beam. However, due to hardware restrictions, Rock was only able to carry three of the weapons at a time, giving him a grand total of four different firing modes at any given time.

Naturally, Rock understood as well as anyone that he should never work with a loaded weapon, which was why he’d left all his fuel cells in his locker with his armor – the fuel cells only served to power Rockbuster’s cannon, while his body provided the energy necessary to operate the arm – just as if the original arm was still attached.

Soon enough, the rest of the room began to stir, and Rock decided to make the final adjustments before packing away the gear and returning the borrowed tools to X.

Dressing himself quickly, he followed the small group who’d already dressed into the bathrooms, where he grabbed a quick shower before brushing his teeth, listening the whole while to the animated female pestering Lie Ren, one of the few people whose names he’d caught. He was impressed that Ren was able to tolerate the girl babbling away with way too much enthusiasm for this time of day.

Finishing with everything he needed to take care of at the sink, he headed into the cafeteria to grab some breakfast. It wasn’t anything too exciting – just a stack of somewhat bland pancakes. Still, he ate as quickly as he could without wolfing them down before heading towards the lockers.

By the time he got there, it was already starting to fill up with other freshman checking their weapons and gear for initiation. Finding his locker, he quickly put in the code, and it swung open to reveal his familiar blue armor and helmet. He stood, staring for a moment. This was it. Today, he would prove to Beacon, to Professor Ozpin, to Professor Goodwitch, and to his brother that he belonged here now. He almost didn’t want to don the armor, because if he did that he might wake up and find out that none of this was real.

“Aww, is the mega runt feeling scared?” taunted the figure from a few lockers over. Rock looked over, finding that the source of the voice was none other than Forte. Forte was far from Rock’s favorite person in the world – the other boy was far too dedicated to being better than him, and tended to vent by insulting him. Still, Rock tried to become friends with Forte, feeling as if perhaps all Forte needed to see was that Rock was only human like Forte, even if he had a robotic arm.

“No, not particularly. I just – this is it, you know? The moment I put the armor on, it becomes real,” he replied, turning to face Forte. Forte just laughed.

“I guess it’s only natural a wimp like you’d say something like that,” he said, pulling on his helmet. He shut his locker, walking over to Rock. “Make no mistake, you aren’t here because you’re good. You’re here because you got lucky. I’m better than you, so watch out. Wouldn’t want to let Professor Ozpin down now, would we?” Forte sneered, walking off. A moment later, X was by his side, already dressed in armor and ready to head out for initiation.

“What was that about?” X asked. Rock shrugged.

“Forte being Forte. Same old.”

X frowned. “Hey,” he said, putting a hand on Rock’s shoulder. “If anything happens, come find me. I’ll protect you.”

Rock knocked the hand off his shoulder. “I’ll be fine, quit worrying,” he said, grabbing his armor. He took a moment to decide on what weapons to load Rockbuster with, settling on the chips for Thunder Beam, Rolling Cutter and Magnet Beam, before double checking that yes, he did have his reserve fuel cells clipped to his belt, closing his locker with the gear he was leaving behind for safekeeping.

* * *

Okay, so Zero was kind of having a panic attack.

_Nononono this can’t be happening this isn’t right why is she here this ruins everything oh god what am I going to do I can’t let her see me it’s over if she finds me what am I going to do help oh god_

Okay, so Zero was kind of having a nervous breakdown. Still, it was a good thing he was among the stragglers, able to avoid detection and still make it into the locker room on time.

He hadn’t been too keen on leaving his armor in the locker overnight, but had found alternatives in the end. Even more unsettling, though, had been having to leave his weapons in the locker. The sword and chain rod were his weapons of choice – though he did have his pistol to help him out in a firefight – and leaving them in the locker had left him naked. Exposed.

He wondered if X had seen that side of him. The vulnerable side. He tried to hide it under his usual attitude, but some things simply changed people. He wasn’t as cocky as he used to be anymore.

Shaking his head, he grabbed his gear from his locker, careful to make sure she didn’t notice him. As he made his way out to the cliff side, he noticed that the only spot left was next to X, far away from her.

Upon his arrival, Professor Ozpin began his speech. “For years, you have trained to become warriors. Today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest.”

Professor Goodwitch, at that point, cut in. “Now, I’m sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today.”

Zero’s eyes flicked up at that statement, worry gnawing at him. What would happen if she was on his team?

“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interests to be paired with someone with whom you can work well,” Professor Ozpin continued. Next to him, Zero saw X glance over at Rock with worry. “That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.”

“That seems like a great way to form up the teams,” muttered Zero under his breath.

“After you’ve partnered up, make your way towards the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path – or you will die.” He said that last part casually, as if commenting on the flavors of his coffee. “You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?”

“Yeah,” the blonde kid – Arc, was it? – spoke up.

“Good,” Ozpin cut him off. “Now, take your positions.” Zero complied, bracing his legs appropriately to get flung into the air over the Emerald Forest. Next to him, he saw X bracing himself against the stone slab, his robot arm extended and his leg thrusters giving test flares.

Okay then. X had more than one robot limb. That was a surprise. He wondered if the same held true for Rock.

Next to him, Leviathan went soaring through the air, and all too soon it was his turn, his body tucked in to a more streamlined position to get maximum air time. He wrapped the chain rod around his wrist in anticipation – he’d be needing it’s help to land safely, in all probability. Next to him, the iconic face of Weiss Schnee leapt by, hopping from glyph to glyph to get to the ground.

As Zero fell, he began thinking about prospective teammates. He would have to avoid her at all costs, but that shouldn’t be too hard. They weren’t likely to land close to each other.

The first person Zero wanted for a partner was X without question. However, he knew better than to expect things to work out that perfectly. He ran through all the people he could try to pair up with in his head. Schnee was out of the question, the two had polar opposite personalities. X’s kid brother, Rock, didn’t seem half bad, either, if a little slow for Zero’s style. He depended on speed to close in with melee weapons, and Rock didn’t. He’d likely slow Zero down.

Not that Zero would mind terribly, but he did want to get this over with.

Realizing it was time he hit the ground himself, Zero unfolded himself into a more drag heavy position, slowing his fall enough for him to assess his options.

His first option would be to throw the chain rod as far as he could, knowing it would get wrapped around a branch sooner or later, and hope that he could swing on it enough to convert his vertical momentum into something more horizontal and significantly less fatal.

Option two was to whip out his saber and stab into a tree to bring himself to a sudden halt. Not the best of plans, all things considered – it could very easily just slice through the tree, or he could let go in the sudden deceleration and lose it.

Or, he could use the added bracing in his arm and leg armor to land on the side of that big tree coming up, at no risk to himself or his weaponry. Yes, that seemed like a safe decision. Ten seconds and a slightly jarring impact later and he was on the ground and running.

* * *

X soared.

There was no other way to put it. His leg thrusters, Solar Flare, were powerful enough to keep him in the air indefinitely if he was smart about when he flared the thrusters. His helmet had dropped a protective visor over his eyes in order to allow him to maintain focus at such high speeds.

Below him, a yellow blur shot by, and X realized it had to be Yang. Grinning, he shot after her, making a point of zipping by her. Before they knew it they were racing each other, daring each other to move faster.

“You really think you can out fly me?” Yang shouted.

X smirked. “I know I can!” he laughed, flying directly across her trajectory. As he did so, he turned, locking eyes with Yang, and winked. With a slight huff of indignation, Yang responded in her own fashion, nearly careening straight into X. X, however, had had plenty of practice flying in the past, and was able to twist just so that Yang zipped by him instead.

“Do you think this makes us partners?” Yang called back at him as he somersaulted through a treetop.

“I believe he said we have to hit the ground first,” X shouted in reply. The next instant, Yang had vanished, dropping out of the sky before she got too far ahead of the other students. X flew through the air a bit longer, before deciding to land. If he flew too far he wouldn’t get partnered up in a reasonable amount of time, being separated from the main continent of students.

He landed not far from a clearing, from which point he decided he was best off waiting for someone to wander through. As he picked his way through the branches, he heard a low growling sound, one he knew well. Shifting Solar Plasma into blade from, he cut through the remaining overgrowth, diving just out of the reach of the Beowolf. Around him, the rest of the group was gathering, hoping to get a cut of the kill.

X smirked confidently, then suddenly lunged towards the first one. Solar Flare gave his kicks an extra punch, and he easily roundhouse kicked the wolflike creature into the treeline. He jumped back to avoid the strikes of the next one just in time, before darting back in and slashing with Solar Plasma, butchering the Beowolf. He jumped straight up, shifting Solar Plasma back into cannon form again, before flipping himself to face the ground, unleashing a hail of shots on the two Beowolves that had moved in below. He kicked off their corpses as he landed, flinging himself towards the Beowolves on the far side of the clearing.

* * *

It wasn’t that Forte couldn’t fly – his combat system, Gospel, had both a set of jump thrusters and an enormously energy consuming flight system – it was that he hated it. He wasn’t sure why, he simply was. Perhaps it had something to do with the desire to keep the playing field level, to give Rock a fair chance, to make his victory over the younger huntsman in training all the sweeter in the end.

Whatever the case may be, the reasons behind his hatred for flight were currently not of much use, falling through the sky as he was. Below him, he saw a redheaded huntress – Pyrrha, by the looks of it – roll through some tree branches, coming up and throwing her javelin to apparently catch the falling blunder boy that Forte had never heard of. Something was off about that – Forte’s father was Albert Wily, after all, and if Wily didn’t know something, one would find themself hard pressed to find someone who did. Naturally, Forte took advantage of this by memorizing every detail his father could provide on the other huntsmen and huntresses in his class, as well as Rock, in an effort to gain an upper hand. For instance, he knew that Cardin Winchester’s fighting style was shockingly ineffective – he put too much power into swinging an oversized mace, and if he missed the first strike he was wide open for a good two seconds or so. Likewise, Blake Belladonna was another mysterious appearance, but Forte had found out quickly enough that she was simply on the run from the White Fang for deserting and wanted to set right what she’d done by becoming a huntress.

Still, he had seen Pyrrha landing, which meant it was high time he swallowed his pride long enough to figure out how to not become a crater in the ground. Grimacing, he flipped around so he was falling feet first, the whirring of his armor drowned by the roars of the wind as he fell. He engaged the thrusters – simple canisters of pressurized air – giving him a boost back into the sky somewhat, whereupon he was able to grab hold of a nearby tree branch and swing around two or three times, enough to get his momentum under control. He released his hold on the limb, falling to the ground. He came up in a roll, wrist mounted submachine guns at the ready. He would not be caught so easily off guard.

Quite naturally, that meant that Rock dropping to the ground behind him a second later took him completely by surprise.

* * *

Leviathan was more than a little disappointed when Zero failed to turn up near her – she’d really wanted to be on a team with him, and maybe she wasn’t as over him as she thought she was. Still, at least she’d had the fortune to meet up with Phantom not long after reaching the ground, rather than someone unpleasant such as Forte. She made a face at the thought, then hurried to catch up to Phantom, who, despite their friendship, made no effort to wait for her.

A loud battle cry echoed from nearby, startling both Phantom and Leviathan. Knowing that the owner of the guilty voice only shouted like that when faced against a dangerous opponent, the two sprinted in the direction of the voice, readying their respective weapons.

They came across a rather unnerving situation in a dim clearing, illuminated by flames strewn across the battlefield primarily. Fefnir and Harpuia both were engaged in combat against a massive King Taijitu, and neither huntsman looked the better for wear. Fefnir had lost one of his weapons and was now attempting to make do with only one of the oversized cannons he wielded. Harpuia was staying grounded, though this was likely due to the danger of trying to dodge in midair than to equipment damage, seeing as Harpuia’s Semblance was Wind. There was hardly a need to worry about breaking his Semblance. As they ran forward to help, the Taijitu spun, using its tail to slam Fefnir against a nearby tree. He slumped to the ground, looking like he could be either knocked out or dead.

Leviathan shouted, drawing her lance Staggroff and leaping forwards. She darted in and out quickly, slashing at the points where the Taijitu’s scales overlapped, hoping to damage the beast that way. It had little effect, as the creature moved with lightning speed to coil itself around her. She cried out, dropping her lance, as Phantom dashed forward, unleashing a hail of kunai at the creature’s face. Though he did no damage, he managed to startle the beast enough for Leviathan to break free. She came up in a roll next to Harpuia, panting.

“What did you do to piss this thing off?” she asked.

“Apparently exist!” he shouted back, ducking under the Taijitu’s body once again. Drawing his twin blades, he crossed them over his head, channeling the air above him, before unleashing the blast as an electric bolt. The blast hit the Taijitu square in the face, dazing it. Seeing their chance, the four rushed the snake at once, scaling its body with practiced precision. As the snake looked as if it was about to snap out of its stupor, Fefnir focused his own Semblance – fire – through his weapon, hitting the Taijitu with a charged blast, which served to set the beast into a deeper daze as it fell on its side. Seeing her opening, Leviathan drove Staggroff into the beast’s hide, using it to flip herself up pole vault style, before falling back towards the ground and driving her lance into the beast’s eye. This proved a hazardous move, however, as the Taijitu began thrashing about, and would’ve decapitated her if Phantom had not used his own Semblance to get them both out of harm’s way, Fading to her, grabbing her, and Fading to safety.

“We can’t fight this thing!” Phantom shouted.

“You’re right. We need to leave,” Harpuia said. Fefnir scrambled to grab his other gun, and the four sprinted north best they could, Taijitu hot on their heels.

* * *

Ashe groaned in frustration.

She’d been trying to move through the forest for some time when she’d met up with the rather unstable scythe wielding Prometheus, who had immediately begun to ignore her and keep moving north. However, they had made eye contact, so she knew that they were going to be partners one way or another, so she may as well keep up. For his part, Prometheus was proving a surprisingly tolerable partner, making sure that Ashe was able to keep up, stopping whenever she fell behind. At no point did he speak to her, however, and that was becoming increasingly frustrating. She wondered if Ozpin would let her switch teammates. Probably not. The man was… eccentric.

Finally, they came across a clearing in the forest overlooking a small shrine. Various over sized chess pieces were displayed on the pedestals, distributed seemingly at random. As they made their way down, Ashe noticed that some of the pieces were missing.

“Huh,” she remarked. “Guess we’re not the first ones here.”

Prometheus grunted. “Chess pieces. How cliche,” he muttered. He turned to Ashe at that moment, addressing her for the first time. “This is pathetic. The chess pieces are a test, to figure out how we operate. You take the knight, you’re a evasive team, if you take the rook, you’re a powerhouse, and so forth. Since these chess pieces come in pairs, I would assume that whoever takes the matching piece becomes the other half of our team. So, which one calls to you?”

Ashe blinked, caught slightly off guard. “Hmm… which one…?” she murmured as she the pieces in front of her.

“Perhaps the pawn would best suit you?” Prometheus sneered. Ashe glared at him.

“Whatever I pick reflects on you too, you know,” she snapped. Prometheus grinned. “Anyways, I made my decision,” she said, grabbing the white king.

Prometheus chuckled. “The king, huh?”

“The way I see it, the king is in charge of his own destiny,” Ashe smirked, tossing the king around. Prometheus somehow seemed even more amused by the thought.

“Is that so?” he muttered, turning to head back towards the cliff.


End file.
